


Behind Every Great Man

by chromyrose



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: 707 Name Spoiler, 707 Route Spoilers, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Family Fluff, Fix-It, Healing, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Marriage Proposal, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Physical Abuse, Post Secret Endings, Romantic Fluff, Sad with a Happy Ending, secret ending spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 03:11:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8473204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chromyrose/pseuds/chromyrose
Summary: Unknown chooses her because she seems utterly unremarkable -- Saeran comes to learn that's nowhere near true.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I finished the game a few days ago, and after I was done with it all I could wonder about was the few month gap in the Secret Endings between Saeran being desperately ill, if not brainwashed still, and Saeran as we see him in the very last segment with the proposal. I was especially interested in exploring the role MC might have played in his recovery, because I thought it would be an interesting juxtaposition: all his life Saeran was abused by women, his mother and Rika, and so to have a woman be part of his healing process was a concept I wanted to muse on. And most of this fic wrote itself, honestly!
> 
> I actually made myself promise not to read any Saeran-centric fics until I finished writing this one, but I've read a few since that have similar events to what I've come up with, and I think that's pretty cool. Even if it's similar to something you've read before, I hope you enjoy my take on this relationship!
> 
> The title comes from the expression: "Behind every great man is a great woman."

Technically, the first time he meets her is the day he sends her to the apartment. He can’t be bothered to notice much about her, except that she looks homely in an oversized sweater, and her mousy brown hair is so long, she repeatedly shakes her head to remove her bangs from her eyes. She looks insignificant, the sort of girl who could go missing and nobody would care, which makes her perfect for this. His savior takes a long, long look at her through the camera feeds before she agrees.

—

The second time he meets her, he’s just thrown a brick through the apartment window. He likely doesn’t have much time before whoever has traced his emails will reactivate the alarm, so even though he offers vague shushing words in her direction, he really couldn’t care less about her presence – until her white knight comes crashing through the door, and she’s just standing there, the perfect hostage.

She’s more feral than he’d thought, he realizes as she bites down on his arm, ready to tear the flesh. He’s forced to retreat. Back at Mint Eye, his savior cleanses the mark with bleach.

—–

The third time Saeran meets her blends into the fourth, the fifth, the hundredth; he doesn’t care to keep track. Once Saeyoung insists on installing himself back into his brother’s life she’s always there like a shadow.

She comes to see him in the hospital alone once, and when she brushes the hair away from her eyes his blood boils at the pity he sees in her gaze. He tells her all about the dreams he’s had of getting his hands on that hair, taking a knife to it, slicing up her face while he frees her eyes; she’s so plain, and a scar would make her much more interesting– 

She stands there, still as stone, while nurses rush in and sedate him. The last thing he sees before he goes to sleep is the horror she looks at him with, and he falls asleep laughing.

 

Somehow, that is not the end of her. She comes again with Saeyoung, peering around his shoulder, and beside his twin Saeran can see how he would dwarf her.

“Congratulations,” he croons at her, voice low, gravelly, and foreboding. His throat hurts terribly, but he laughs. “You moved up in the world. From mole to lapdog.”

Curiously, she doesn’t seem to react, but Saeyoung does. He chides his brother for his rudeness, and puts his arm around the girl as if that can protect her from Saeran's vile words. Instead of being deterred, he laughs until he hiccups and compares her to every animal he can think of while he catches his breath; admittedly it's not many, with the cloud of drugs in his head, but it’s enough. Saeyoung goes red in the face, obviously fighting his temper and reminding himself he’s trying to be sensitive to Saeran, and eventually he leads the girl away.

—

A few days later he wakes up in Saeyoung’s house. His brother had the decency to put him in a room with a window, but Saeran can’t break the glass no matter what he tries. The window doesn’t even open. The door does, but it trips a siren that blares throughout the house every time.

Saeran spends thirty-nine straight hours slamming the door open and shut, pleased with his headache if it means Saeyoung’s suffering too. He stops only because he collapses on his feet. When he wakes up, he’s been tucked back into bed.

There’s a knock at the door. Saeyoung knocks, but does so as he’s pushing the door open, which makes it redundant and drives Saeran crazy. But no one comes in; whoever just knocked is waiting.

“Fuck off,” he groans. There’s obviously not enough vitriol, because the door is pushed open. Saeran gets to his feet so fast it makes his head spin.

It’s Saeyoung’s girl, holding a tray. Saeran gets to the doorway, readies himself to flip it and scald her with the steaming hot plates.

Steaming hot plates... he can see the wisps of it, feel the wet heat on his neck and chin. And the food smells unfamiliar in a way that makes his stomach a hollow vessel, craving.

Has Saeran ever had a hot meal? The few times he chose to eat it, the hospital food had been warm, but it smelled like nothing – it was made for nothing more than sustience. This meal smells of things that Saeran does not know the names of, but he'd readily drink rat poison if it smelled this good.

He looks at her and decides it would be a waste to lose his own dinner. But his pride is in his throat, and it makes him snap, “Put it on the floor.”

And she, the stupid, curious, naïve girl, kneels down and settles the tray between their feet. Saeran feels every vertebrae in his spine roll up, and he's aware of how tall he stands. He could kick her. He could step on her. He could break her nose, her neck, her back…

She really is the perfect girl for his stupid, curious, naïve brother. They trust him too much, they’d let him get away with anything. Saeyoung stole him from a hospital. His girl is feeding him. 

She gets to her feet again, unharmed, and it looks like she wants to say something. But she says nothing, just offers the smallest of smiles before she goes.

Once she’s out of sight, Saeran falls to his knees and feasts.

—–

The ensuing months are a painful recovery period. Saeran wakes up some mornings craving his brother's affection like a dry sponge craves moisture, and others he reaches for the nearest blunt object and brandishes it like a club, screaming and crying and ready to pull his own hair out. 

He isn't sure how Saeyoung manages to pull him out of the dark cocoon his life has become, has always been, but now Saeran is able to stand on his feet again, to trust Saeyoung the way he did when they were small and scared and the only thing the other had to live for.

These days, Saeyoung looks more like Saeran feels than Saeran's reflection in the mirror does. There is nothing for the tattoo except to hide it, and he does, but the hair agitates Saeran, makes him ache from deep in his belly. The roots have grown in, fiery red like they are meant to be, but the shaggy ends are still white, tipped with faded pink. 

“Saeyoung,” he says timidly one morning over breakfast. Conversation between his brother and the girl ends immediately, Saeyoung interrupting his own laughter to turn to his brother and lean in. 

“Yeah?” 

“I... I want to dye my hair back, brother. Please.” 

In therapy, he's been working on living in the present, pulling himself out of the past. His therapist doesn't know the whole story, but she knows enough: he's a bastard child who grew up with an abusive mother, got separated from his twin – the only person who loved him – when they were still prepubescent, and was subsequently drawn into another abusive relationship with a girl who broke him down to build him back up anew. His therapist says he doesn't have to be that person anymore, but Saeran wonders if being submissive isn't coded in his DNA somewhere, a mutation in his genes that keeps him from _being_ Saeyoung. 

He reminds himself to be happy that “please” came out more as a statement than a question. It's easier to relax when he sees Saeyoung's smile. 

 

Saeyoung and his girl go out alone, because Saeran becomes something ugly when he's in a crowd. Three hours later they return from the store and the first thing Saeran notices is the grin engulfing his brother’s face. It’s not the size that makes it so eye-catching, but the color: a bright, deep red that makes his hair look orange by comparison.

She comes in behind him, her face an exact color match to Saeyoung’s makeup even beneath the lipstick kiss marks on her cheeks, nose, forehead, and chin. Somehow, her lips are still their usual muted pink.

Before Saeran can ask, Saeyoung laughs. “Guess who didn’t want to take the lipstick sample from the makeup counter because it ‘wouldn’t match her complexion’?” He crows, pulling her in close with an arm slung around her shoulder, then kissing a bare spot along her temple. “I think it suits you perfectly, babe.”

Saeran is certain that the other RFA members will appreciate the sight; the group is obvious in their support of the relationship. He takes a photo and posts it to the chat without context, then looks back up at his twin.

“I don’t think it matches your hair, brother.”

“Nope!” Saeyoung agrees. He digs into the small shopping bag in her hands, and pulls out a box of hair dye. “But yours will soon.”

“Sorry we took so long,” she adds, sighing as she puts her phone in her pocket. “There were so many red shades, but most of them were terrible. Matching Saeyoung’s hair was difficult.” She smiles apologetically at Saeran, then turns to Saeyoung. “Zen says you missed a spot.”

Saeyoung darts down to her height and presses a loud kiss to her lips. They’re lip-locked for a few long, uncomfortable seconds, and Saeran kind of misses the days when Saeyoung wouldn’t kiss her when he was around. But if he’s learned anything in the past two months, it’s that his brother is absolutely shameless when it comes to expressing affection.

When they pull apart, Saeran takes another picture of the red smeared around their mouths like clown makeup, and posts it to the chat as retribution for having to watch it happen.

“I’ll go get the rags,” she huffs, sounding a little flustered when Saeyoung lets her go. “And the makeup remover…”

Saeyoung watches her go up the stairs. Saeran follows his gaze, and grimaces. “Gross.”

“Don't judge me! You'll understand someday, young one.” 

“Gross.” 

Saeyoung laughs as he dives onto the couch, flopping himself over Saeran's lap. “Trust meeeeee.” 

“You're not a cat, brother.” 

“If only!” Saeyoung laments, getting to his feet and holding out his hand. “Come on, we'll do your hair in the kitchen so we can rinse it in the big sink. Oh, but go change your shirt first, since it'll probably get wrecked.”

“I'll take one of yours,” Saeran decides as he lets his twin pull him up. 

 

When he goes down to the kitchen after he's done changing, she and Saeyoung are both there, sitting on adjacent barstools. Saeyoung keeps twisting his seat so he knocks knees with her while she reads over the instructions that came in the hair dye box. 

“This shouldn't be difficult,” she's saying, not looking up from the page. She doesn't seem to notice Saeran is there until he sits down and the seat creaks. “Oh, Saeran's back.”

All of a sudden, she's on her feet, snatching a ratty towel from the counter as she approaches him. She's coming up behind him, and when her hand is inches away from touching his hair, Saeran flinches. The next moment he's aware of himself, his elbows are on his knees, and his hands are holding his head down protectively. He sees the surprise in Saeyoung's wide golden eyes, and when he turns slightly, he sees her hand stuck in the empty air. 

“I want Saeyoung to do it,” he shouts all in one breath. 

He can hear them start breathing again, too, and then Saeyoung is chuckling. “Take a seat, honey. Relax and watch a real master of disguise at work.” 

She laughs too, like she isn't hurt, but Saeran knows she must be. She takes the seat she was in before, putting her opposite him at the table, and though she's trying to meet his gaze, he won't let it happen. He wants to apologize, but he can't fathom articulating how deeply it terrifies him, the idea of a woman standing behind him where he cannot see her next move. 

Saeyoung's hands rub the dye into his scalp and through his strands as readily as they fly over a keyboard, and he chats as he works about anything and everything that comes to his mind. Saeran doesn't know too much about the life his brother's lived, so he can't say if he talks so much because he's not used to silence, or because he's grown to loathe it. Either way, Saeran ignores the words and lets his brother's voice wash over him like a soothing balm. He closes his eyes, and focuses on the security that comes from his brother's presence. 

Someday, hopefully, he'll figure out how to make it up to her.

–

Another month passes. She goes out with Jaehee Kang for what she conspiratorially refers to as a “girls' day” in between giggles. Saeran is tentatively curious about what this entails, until Yoosung and Zen insist he's really better off not knowing. Jumin Han complains that they're being children about it, and he's ready to explain, but Saeyoung boots him out of the chatroom before he can.

Saeyoung's been fidgety lately. Saeran notices the way he seems to lose his train of thought in the middle of a conversation, how he's happened upon his brother staring off into space more than once in the past two weeks, the bite marks on Saeyoung's lower lip that have to be self-inflicted. After kicking Jumin out of the RFA chat, Saeyoung comes into the living room and drops himself onto the couch right beside Saeran. 

“Don't worry, they're not doing anything of dubious morality. That's more of a me thing, you know.” 

“I'm not worried,” Saeran huffs. He's about ready to start ignoring Saeyoung, who is probably desperate for attention since his girlfriend isn't home, but he catches a rare serious expression on his twin's face, worry lines etched into his forehead. “Saeyoung...?” 

His hand is twitching in the pocket of his oversized sweater. He pulls it out, and tosses something into Saeran's lap: a small velvet box. 

“Do you think she'll like it...?”

The ring inside is simple, but far from modest; a larger square diamond sits in the middle, and smaller diamonds surrounded it, embedded in the white-gold band. For the first time in his life, the symbolic gesture isn't lost on Saeran, and he gasps as the realization sets in. 

When he looks back at Saeyoung, he sees a sheepish, lopsided, over-wide grin. 

“I'm going to ask her to marry me.” 

–

As a former intelligence agent, Saeyoung of all people should know how to keep a secret – that makes it all the more confusing to Saeran when he sees his brother has posted in the RFA chatroom: 

_We're having a party next week. I'm going to propose so you all have to come. Including Elly!_

There's no way she doesn't see it, that much is clear when suddenly it seems like Saeran is living with a pair of strangers, and not a pair of lovers. If one of them enters a room and the other is there, they both leave in separate directions. He even catches her coming out of a guest room one morning, when they've been sleeping in the same bed from before he moved in with them. 

When he confronts his brother about the fact that he's not even making eye contact with the girl he's going to propose too, and wonders if marriage is really the right idea, Saeyoung's expression betrays something Saeran has never seen on his brother before: anxiety. Even when Saeran was still “Unknown,” unreachable and cold, Saeyoung never looked at him like he doubted he could bring him back. To see that man shaking and holding the counter now was somewhat terrifying. 

“Every time I look at her, I try to guess what she's thinking. Is she really going to say yes, or am I just hoping she will? Could she say no... will I survive it if she does? All those thoughts turn my stomach into a pretzel.” Saeyoung admits. “I don't know what she's thinking, but... but maybe this space is good for us? Fuck, tomorrow can't come fast enough.” 

“This wouldn't be happening if you hadn't told her it was coming.” 

“It totally would,” Saeyoung insists. “It'd be even worse. I'd be like this, and she'd have no idea why, so she'd keep trying to comfort me... it'd be too much. Besides... I wanna give her time to think about it, too. I'm a lot to sign up for a whole life with.”

Saeran doesn't deny that, but he squeezes his brother's shoulder and hopes it conveys support. He doesn't think he'll ever understand what it means to be in love, but he knows he needs her to say yes just as much as Saeyoung does; there's only enough room for one broken brother in this family anymore.

–

She says yes. Even though they all know it's coming, Saeyoung still manages to make the timing of his proposal feel like it's come out of the blue, and she doesn't even go for the ring first, she just grabs his face and kisses him like she'll die if she doesn't. It's gross and sappy and Saeran relates to Jumin most; while everyone else cheers, he clears his throat and averts his gaze even as he's clapping politely. 

Jumin doesn't bring Elizabeth the 3rd along, but he does bring a bottle of wine, and Saeyoung probably has more alcohol than the rest of the celebration combined. At first it makes him lively, giggly, and he can't stop touching her, his fiancée. He sits in her lap and plays with her hair, kisses her face and misses her mouth, reaches for her hand to check that the ring is really there. His antics are adorable, even Saeran has to admit, and he's sure the entire RFA gets enough on video to keep him blackmailed at least until the wedding.

But then giddy Saeyoung turns into weepy Saeyoung, and when he's done crying into her dress he falls asleep with his head on her shoulder. Zen and Jumin sigh over his behavior in the same breath, and before they can get into it with each other, Jaehee decides it's time for the party to be over. 

Saeran loves them, but he's relieved when they go. He helps get his brother up to bed, a two-person job when Saeyoung is dead weight like this, and after they tuck him in she suggests they wind down with some tea. 

They meet in the kitchen later, after they've changed out of their formal clothes. She has a headband in her hair to hold it away from her face; she's told Saeran recently that she's growing her bangs out, trying to find a new style that suits her better. It's kind of unfortunate, he thinks, because this look is cute, but there is something nice about being able to see her eyes. 

After she pours the tea and brings them their mugs, she sits opposite him and puts her hands on the table. The ring catches the light and glitters. 

“Saeran, did Saeyoung ask you before he proposed to me...?” 

Saeran is confused by the question. “Was he... supposed to?” That doesn't sound like it makes much sense; shouldn't he ask her family, and not his own? 

“Oh, well, I meant more... hmmm...” She trails off, then blinks up at Saeran with a bit of a sheepish look. “I'm not saying this out of pity, and I'm definitely not looking down on you. I'm so impressed by how far you've come, Saeran. And I'm so happy... Saeyoung is so happy to have you in his life. Seeing him light up around you makes me feel so warm. And that's why I know you need to be his priority. More than anyone else, more than me... he needs to take care of you. You're his family.” 

Saeran shouldn't be surprised; he threw her into the RFA to cause chaos, but she managed to put together a huge party in less than two weeks with just her people skills. Sometimes it seems as if all she needs to do is look at someone to know how they work, how she needs to adjust to be on their level. It's still uncanny to be on the receiving end of that kind of wizardry. 

If she really is supernatural, though, it would make her that much more perfect for Saeyoung. 

“So... what? You're saying that if I tell you I'm not okay with it, you'll...” 

He has no plans to interrupt this marriage, not when he knows how much Saeyoung _loves_ her, but Saeran needs to know that she wouldn't leave him over anything, not even something like this.

She picks up on the question he's implied soon enough, and immediately throws up her hands.

“Saeran, please never doubt how much I love Saeyoung.” She says firmly, her eyes bright and overwhelming in their ferocity. “If you _were_ to say something like that now... even then, I wouldn't be able to go. I'd just tell him... I don't know. That we should prolong our engagement. That there's no rush to get married–” she interrupts herself to laugh. “We met less than six months ago! But I can't imagine being without him, either. So I'd just... hope that you'd come around and be okay with it.” 

“You could stand to be a little more selfish,” he mumbles, embarrassed but happy for Saeyoung all the same. 

“I've been selfish enough where Saeyoung is concerned,” she says happily, shamelessly. “And I would hate to force myself on you anymore than I have.” 

“I don't mind,” Saeran says finally, looking down at his mug. “I don't know if I believe in God or justice like Saeyoung does, but... after everything, I think he deserves to be happy.” 

She sips at her tea slowly, but her mug doesn't smother her smile. “I think I'm very lucky. I'm getting the best husband, and the best brother-in-law.” 

She's so earnest about it that Saeran feels his ears go red. He hopes his mug hides his expression better than hers does, as he thinks that maybe it'll be nice, having a sister.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear your thoughts about this fic, especially with regards to characterization and how I've portrayed the relationships (707/MC and Saeran & MC), if you have any! Find me elsewhere on the interwebs: [twitter](http://twitter.com/haikyuutiie) or [tumblr](http://zahhaked.tumblr.com)


End file.
